Get access to some of industry's greatest problem solvers

Whether you join TWI as an individual through our Professional Membership, or your company joins us as an Industrial Member, being part of TWI grants access to a package of benefits unavailable anywhere else.

By becoming a member you will open a door to a unique combination of expertise, facilities and support. You will be joining more than 2000 Industrial Members and 5000 Professional Members, including many of world’s biggest and most successful companies.

Providing solutions and adding value

TWI is one of the world’s foremost independent research and technology organisations, with expertise in solving problems in all aspects of manufacturing, fabrication and whole-life integrity management technologies.

STEQ™ - software for SMEs

Connect, no.124, May/June 2003, p.6

For small fabricators in supply chains striving for enhanced quality, web-enabled software specially designed to generate and store procedure and personnel records can help maintain competitive advantage in a global market

A two-year collaborative project has recently been launched to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to remain competitive in a global market by applying advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The project aims to transfer ICT methods from fabrication sectors dominated by large companies to SMEs engaged in general fabrication.

The computerised systems are used for specification, recording and management of welding procedures and welding skills. The project will augment and web-enable existing software to make it available for SME use. Trade associations within the welding equipment supply community and the structural steelwork and construction sectors will test the new approaches on representative SMEs and inform the fabricators about the enhanced efficiency that results from their use.

The project will concentrate on proving the technical feasibility and commercial benefits of the new system, using a pilot group of SMEs involved in general fabrication tasks. In the latter part of the project after the pilot phase,the new ICTs will be made generally available to UK SMEs.

This project is grant supported by the UK Department of Trade and Industry within the ICT Carrier Programme. It is conducted in collaboration with the Association of Welding Distributors, British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd, Construction Industry Computing Association, Northern Offshore Federation and TWI Ltd as well as their Members.